The New Fire Safety Regulations and Duties from January 2023

In response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 came into force on the 23rd of January 2023.

If you have responsibility for managing multiple occupancy residencies, it’s important that you understand your new duties under these regulations to ensure that you meet all your obligations.

Where do the new regulations apply?

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 apply to all non-domestic parts of multi-occupied residential buildings and all houses that have been converted into two flats or a house with multiple occupations.

What is now required under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022?

While the Fire Safety Order 2005 already requires the responsible person to undertake and regularly review their fire risk assessment of the building and maintain precautions that manage the risk of fire, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 goes further.

In all multi-occupied residential buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises, there will be a requirement to:

• Provide relevant fire safety instructions to residents, which will include instructions on how to report a fire and any other instruction which sets out what a resident must do once a fire has started based on the evacuation strategy of the building.

• Provide residents with information relating to the importance of fire doors for fire safety, such as keeping them closed when not in use, not tampering with self-closing devices and reporting any faults or damages immediately.

• Fire safety information must be provided to all residents every 12 months, and new residents must receive the information as soon as reasonably practicable after they have moved in.

In residential buildings with storeys over 11 metres, but under 18 metres, in height, there will be a further requirement to undertake annual checks of apartment entrance doors and quarterly checks of all fire doors in common areas.

For high-rise residential buildings (containing two or more sets of domestic premises that are at least 18 metres above ground level or with at least seven storeys), additional information must be provided to Fire and Rescue Services to help them to plan and, if needed, provide an effective operational response, such as:

• Keeping up-to-date, electronic building floor plans.

• Placing a hard copy of these plans, along with a single-page building plan identifying key firefighting equipment, in a secure information box on site.

• Providing information about the design and materials of a high-rise building’s external wall system and informing the Fire and Rescue Service of any material changes to these walls.

• Provide information in relation to the level of risk that the design and materials of the external wall structure give rise to and any mitigating steps taken.

• Undertaking monthly checks on the operation of lifts intended for use by firefighters and on evacuation lifts and checking the functionality of other key pieces of firefighting equipment.

• Reporting any defective lifts of equipment to the local Fire and Rescue Service as soon as possible after detection if the fault can’t be fixed within 24 hours.

• Installing and maintaining a secure information box in the building which must contain the name and contact details of the responsible person and hard copies of the building floor plans.

• Fitting signage visible in low light or smoky conditions that identifies flat and floor numbers in the stairwells of relevant buildings.

• Keeping a record of the outcome of checks, which must also be made available to residents.

Do you need to ensure that your property’s fire safety measures meet the new standard?

Fire safety is always a key priority for anyone responsible for rental properties, and breaches of the Fire Safety Order can be subject to an enforcement notice or prosecution.

The Estate and Block Management Services offered by No Letting Go ensures that you are always meeting your obligations, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you need support to ensure that your property and your tenants are safer from fire.

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